A Diner And What It Contains
by MaddieLovesFOB
Summary: One day, someone walked into the diner who Heather thought she'd never see again in her life.


Heather was sick and tired of working in the diner. Every day, customers would come and go, never bothering to ask how _she_ felt. She tried her best to make small talk with the customers, but they just ignored her, playing on their phones or reading the newspaper while sipping on their coffee. Honestly, Heather sometimes wanted a few of them to spill coffee on their phones. But she just had to keep reminding herself that this was just a summer job, plus it had a good pay. She didn't want to have to get stuck in the mall with all of the other losers trying to get jobs again.

Why did she need a summer job, anyway? Heather thought while she cleaned tables or brought someone a thick slice of apple pie. Her parents were rich. She was practically the most popular girl at White Pines High, anyway. The problem was, she had been relying on her parents a bit too much lately. They had taken away multiple privileges until Heather could learn to provide for herself, even though she was still living at home. Unless she wanted to work at the mall, the diner it was.

Heather liked the diner, but not the people inside it. Back when she was in middle school, this diner was the popular place to hang out, so of course Heather and her friends hung out there. The pie was quite hard to make, according to some of the new workers that had been lucky enough to score a job as a cook here. It was quite good. Just the right amount of cinnamon.

One stressful Saturday, someone entered the diner who she had never expected to see again.

* * *

Courtney was on the road, yet again. She had never had the time to take a free day, let alone an entire three months. Her school called it summer break, she called it time to look for colleges. She had been passing through Alberta when a small diner caught her eye in a medium sized diner. She hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was two o' clock. Might as well take a break from the seemingly endless college tours.

A line her mother used to tell her every day seeped into her thoughts. "Rest is for the successful once they've succeeded." She had always taken that line quite seriously, even going so far to let Courtney not eat if she had not finished an important project before dinner. Courtney still loved her mom, though. SHe had helped her become the person she was on Total Drama and today. Confident, resourceful, bossy, demanding... Courtney really did need to get some food and think about her mother's parenting style.

She parked the car in the tiny parking lot, running over an already crushed soda can. The metal crunched beneath the tires, making an unpleasant noise. As she walked into Joey's Cheap Eats, she couldn't help but notice how homey it felt. Countless photographs lined the walls above the counter, where a neat row on black stools stood, mounted on a checkered floor. This place did feel a lot like the 50's, but that didn't bother her. She took a seat at a booth with a worn-out red seat. Carved into the table were the letters S + D in the middle of a heart. That couldn't help but remind her of the thug she had dated. Duncan. She had truly loved him, beneath all of their arguments. But then, he just had to go off and kiss Gwen in that horrid confession cam in the middle of that wretched plane... Courtney's thoughts seemed to spit venom. They were quickly interrupted by a small waitress clearing her throat. She had straight black hair and her nametag read just a small letter H.

"Now that you've looked up from your thoughts, welcome to Joey's Cheap Eats, where everything sucks except our pie," The waitress deadpanned, a look of boredom and exhaustion across her face. "I'm Heather and I'll be helping you today. Can I get you anything to drink?" Her tone of voice matched her expression. Courtney could tell that she truly didn't want to be here. Maybe a rough day? She had had her fair share of annoying customers herself.

"Um... I'll just have some water, no ice, with a lemon slice." Courtney said, trying to sound as polite as possible. Heather just huffed and stormed off. 'Hmm... That girl looked an awful lot like Heather. She had the same attitude, and didn't she say she was from Alberta?' Courtney thought. 'Well, we'll see.'

* * *

Once Heather was back in the kitchen, she began filling up some water for the girl who looked suspiciously like Courtney. She had the same hair and splattering of freckles. But Courtney lived somewhere in Ontario. It did seem a lot like Courtney to be traveling around around. Maybe on a college tour? She needed to find out if it was actually Courtney, and what the heck she was doing here.

"Here's your water," Heather said, her voice lacking emotion. Courtney looked up. At that moment, the got a good look at each other's faces.

"Heather?" Courtney exclaimed.

"Courtney!" Heather questioned, taking a few steps back.

"What are you doing here?" They asked at the same time.

"Well, I work here, if you can't tell," Heather sighed. "What about you?"

"I'm in between college tours." Courtney answered. Heather then took a seat across from Courtney. "I wanted to just be independant and do this by myself without my parents influencing my decisions, as always. How'd you end up here? The Heather I know would never work in an old diner like this."

"That's pretty deep, Courtney. Well, my parents forced me to get a job either here, or the mall, which is horrid. The people here are so rude, though. Every day, it's just the same old in and out, order coffee, read the newspaper, leave. I just hate it! Why can't the ever show just a little bit of gratitude to those who wait on them everyday! We've memorized your orders, yet you never pay us any bit of attention!" Heather hadn't even realized she was yelling. Her face turned pink. The customers that had been staring turned away, continuing their conversations.

"It's okay, Heather. The summer's almost over. What day is it again? The 14th of August?" Courtney pulled out her phone to check the time. "Yeah, that's right. That also means I need to stop with all of the college tours and actually head back home."

"How many college tours have you been on?" Heather asked.

"Too many to count." The girls both laughed and continued on with their conversations until the closing of the shop.

That day, both Heather and Courtney left Joey's Cheap Eats knowing a new person to talk to when times got rough.

* * *

So, what did you think? This has been my favorite project to work on so far. I hope you guys like this. My last one-shot was not very good, so I'm hoping this one will come across a bit better.


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